A Whole Foods Pantry
Part of an organized kitchen is having a well stocked pantry. Your pantry needs to reflect two things. First is it should be filled with the foods that you commonly use in your kitchen. In order to know what those foods are, you need to have several recipes that are family favorites and prepared often. The second is that your pantry should be stocked with items that have been bought at the best price possible. If staying on a budget is important in the grocery area than you need to be on the look out for sales on items that you commonly use. A price book is a good tool to keep track of the best prices that you find on commonly bought item.
When I talk about a “whole foods pantry” I am referring to a healthier type of pantry that would be stocked for cooking and baking using many unprocessed ingredients. You will not find boxes and packages of mixes and Hamburger Helper type products in my pantry because they are not made from quality ingredients. You will find wheat and grains and beans and potatoes, whole wheat noodles and this type of thing.
I do buy a few canned goods. I keep a supply of tomatoes; sauce, paste, diced, whole, spicy. I use these often in my cooking. Olives and tuna fish are also on my list. I don’t have a perfect pantry but I continually strive to make it healthier.
I tend to include a few freezer items to my pantry list that I like to have on hand. They are not written in the list below but they include, spaghetti sauce, cooked chicken and hamburger and bags of cooked beans. I will make up these items ahead of time and freeze them in zip type bags. Basically these items are inexpensive and easy to fill the freezer with.
My Whole Foods Pantry List
Baking cocoa
Baking soda
Baking powder
Cornstarch
Cream of tartar
Walnuts
Pecans
Almonds
Cocoa powder
Vanilla
Cinnamon
Chocolate chips -grain sweetened
Coconut
Powdered milk
Gluten flour
Sweeteners
Honey
Cane Juice Crystal’s
Sucanat
Molasses
Stevia
Fats
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Spectrum Palm Oil (non-hydrogenated shortening)
Misc.
Whole wheat pasta
~elbows
~spaghetti
~lasagna
~fettucini
Peanut butter, natural with no hydrogenated oils or sugar
Coffee
Lemon juice
Whole Wheat Tortillas (bought occasionally, usually I make my own)
Corn Tortillas
Seasonings for broth
~vegetable
~chicken
~beef
Sea salt
Pepper
Taco seasonings
Chili seasonings
Minced onions
Dry mustard
Poultry seasonings
Basil
Oregano
Marjoram
Nutmeg
Ginger
Cloves
Beans, dried
~red
~black
~navy
~pinto
~split peas
~lentils
Tuna
Vegetables
~green beans
~tomatoes,
~~diced
~~pureed
~~Rotel (a spicy canned tomato)
~corn
Tomato sauce
Tomato paste
Tomato juice
Pineapple
~slices
~chunks
~crushed
Pumpkin
Cranberries
Applesauce (made without added sugar)
Pickles
Sauerkraut
Bbq sauce
Popcorn, bought in bulk
Tortilla chips, made without hydrogenated oils
Mixed nuts, made without hydrogenated oils
Peanuts
Grains
~wheat, hard white
~wheat, soft white
~wheat, hard red
~kamut
~spelt
~corn –whole corn or popcorn that I grind
Oats
~quick cooking
~regular
Brown rice
If you do not grind your wheat and grains than having bread flour in place of the hard wheat or and pastry flour in place of the soft wheat would need to be on your list as well as corn meal.
